Join more than 80 beautiful parrots for a free, family-friendly open house at Siesta Sanctuary from 1-5 p.m. on Saturday, Aug 4. Play catch with them, hear them talk and sing, watch them play and dance and learn about their care.

Upcoming events around the region.

The 14th annual Piscataquis River Festival returns on Saturday, July 28 with a day of events in the downtown area.

Over a half dozen groups of paddlers tried to traverse the Lake Hebron cove from the boat launch to the Lakeshore House dock during the Anything Floats Race on the afternoon of Saturday, July 21 during the annual Monson Summer Festival.

Whether you are interested in the allied health field, such as preparing for medical assisting, nursing or medical office technology, education, business, hospitality and tourism, mental health, a liberal studies pathway or many other technology fields, join a fall open house on Thursday, Aug. 2 from 3 to 5 p.m. at 50 Mayo Street. Fall 2018 semester classes begin Aug. 27.

On Thursday, Aug. 9 at 1 p.m. at Central Hall in Dover-Foxcroft, NAMI Piscataquis County will show its second offering from the Sounds True-Healing Trauma Summit called “EFT to Heal Trauma,” featuring speaker Dawson Church. This video presentation will be helpful to those experiencing intrusive memories of bad events, insomnia, nightmares and flashbacks.

Early in its existence the Dexter Historical Society received a donation of negatives and photos from Bert Lincoln Call, a photographer in Dexter from 1886 until the early 1940s. Call's stock-in-trade was portraiture of local citizens, but his passion was for the woods, lakes and rivers of northern Maine which he visited annually.

Castlebay plays at the Wayside Theatre at 7 p.m. on Saturday, July 28. Since 1986, Castlebay has been weaving together Maine's nautical and British Isles legacies transporting their audience through time and across the Atlantic. Julia Lane and Fred Gosbee’s traditional and original songs are supported with Celtic harp, 12-string guitar, fiddle and woodwinds.

Upcoming events around the region.

The Brownville-Brownville Junction Historical Society is pleased to announce Ken Hatchette’s latest book “The Canadian Pacific Railroad in Brownville Junction, Maine 1886 to 1963” is available now at the Parish House Museum on Church Street, Simple Sacks on the Main Road and the Milo and Points North Visitors Center on the Gerrish Road.

An event-packed day for all the family will be at the 2018 Monson Summer Festival on Saturday, July 21.

The Abbot Town Hall will be the location of the first annual reunion of students who attended school in Abbot, which organizers hope will become an annual event. A potluck picnic is planned to start at 10:30 a.m. on Sunday, July 29 and this is a rain or shine event.

The 12th annual Thoreau-Wabanaki Trail Festival runs Wednesday, July 18 to Saturday, July 21 at The Center for Moosehead History, 6 Lakeview Street in downtown Greenville.

A pair of blood drives are scheduled for later in the month. The first will be from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, July 21 at the Parkman Town Office, 771 State Highway Route 150. The other will be from 1-6 p.m. on Monday, July 30 at the Family Worship Center, 1372 Bangor Road in Dover-Foxcroft.

Upcoming events around the region.

The second annual Mid-Summer Night’s Gala Dinner Dance will be on the evening of Friday, July 27 aboard the Steamship Katahdin. In March the Holy Family Church in Greenville dedicated its brand new church in March. With only 5 percent of the fundraising left, the parish is sponsoring a dinner/dance cruise aboard the Katahdin with all ticket proceeds going to the church building fund.

A parade through the village once again helped celebrate the annual Fourth of July festivities in Sebec.

Saturday morning July 14 from 10 to noon Dexter Dover Area Towns in Transition (DDATT) will host a free presentation on woodland edibles at the Abbott Memorial Library.